Dr. Gabe Mirkin: 74 Years Old and Bicycling

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I subscribe to Dr. Mirkin’s newsletter. Each issue is a fount of information about healthy living but from a different perspective. Dr. Mirkin answers questions and comments on studies.

An except from a recent newsletter:

“Greater Endurance with Aging

I’m 74 years old and ride my bicycle more than 200 miles per week, often in pace lines with younger riders.  I have noticed that younger riders can easily pull away from me in short bursts,
but I keep coming back on them and seem to be better able to keep up with their accelerations as the ride progresses.

The latest issue of Exercise and Sports Sciences Reviews (January 2009) reviews the entire world’s literature to show that endurance improves as you age. Wow!

The maximal muscle contraction force occurs when you do a single muscle contraction with all your might.  Even though older people are not as strong as younger ones, many studies show that they can retain maximal force after many contractions far longer than younger people can.”

I am several years younger than Dr. Mirkin and I do not ride 200 miles a week.

read more at http://www.drmirkin.com/forum/

The Quest to Beat January’s Average

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Balmy weather yesterday and today in southeast Texas contributed to 55 miles this week. Earlier this week we endured the coldest weather of winter so far. Hopefully this is the last of it but I can’t count on it.

With the change I am at 195 miles for the month and the year. As I wrote before, January’s average mileage is 209 so with 13 days left there should be at least a few days of opportunity to beat the average.

Twice this week I endured the windtrainer for 50 minutes each day. I do not have a rear wheel mounted computer so I have no idea what those minutes would equate to if I were on the road. The goal was to keep the legs in some kind of condition for when I do get to ride.

More miles to come.

Mountain Biking Houston’s Memorial Park

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Great mountain biking deep in the heart of Houston? It’s no urban legend. Memorial Park, just west of the city center, has some of the best riding around.

Phil Sandoz is the author of this overivew.

Memorial Park is a gorgeous green escape right in the middle of town–it’s certainly one of the best places to ride in Houston. The park has well-maintained doubletrack gravel the whole family can ride, challenging tree-dodging singletrack, and everything in between. The trails are color-coded and marked throughout the course to help you find your way, but check the map at the trailhead so you know what to look for as you go. Expect off-camber sections, exposed roots, and bridges on yellow routes, and tight turns, sand, exposed roots, and air-inducing whoops on green routes. This route follows some of the yellow (intermediate) and green (advanced) trails on the west side of the park before moving to the Ho Chi Minh Trail’s challenging singletrack on the east end of the route–ride there if you’re experienced and can shift and brake quickly and often. There are tons of quick climbs and descents and tight banked turns here: go fast, because it’s a blast, but watch out for other hikers and bikers traveling in both directions on all of the trails. There’s plenty of parking in the west lot near the baseball fields. To start, follow the doubletrack along the soccer field back to the singletrack, or go east down the bike trail directly to the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Memorial Park

link to the full review

Mellow Velo: I need to get away

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I don’t know much about the writer except that his first name is Chris.

The suburban cycling woes of a coddled, distance rider (aka “Excuses, Excuses”)

The problem with riding for fun is that it’s rarely fun when it’s convenient. I am most itching to go for a spin after work, as the sun is setting and rush-hour traffic clogs the nearest roads, or in the late afternoon of a weekend day, when I really should be doing chores around the house, or when friends are ready to convene for the evening. But when I drag myself out of bed early on a weekend to just ride, I usually flake out somewhere between my second cup of coffee and the New York Times Magazine.

Read more from Mellow Velo’s blog